I yanked my hand out of my briefs. “What the fuck?”
Louis stood by the window and peeked out of the blinds. “FBI has surrounded the hotel.”
Rafael shook his head. “And you know I hate FBI way more than Interpol.”
“That goddamn woman.” I stomped over to my pants and dressed. “Is the helicopter ready?”
Louis nodded. “It is, but I don’t know if the FBI will let us out of here. We need to make it quick.”
“Yes.” Rafael pointed at my clothes. “Like I don’t care, if you have a shirt on quick. We need to go. Now.”
“We have people on the FBI. No one warned us?” I buttoned my pants. “What about Agent Bugler?”
No one said anything.
“What?” I grabbed my shirt.
Rafael spoke, “Bugler’s dead, along with the other ten agents we had on the FBI. They were all shot in their beds this morning. The news thinks it’s some serial killer since it was all in different locations.”
“Fuck.” I grabbed my phone and walked off.
Giorgio called after me, “I have your laptop.”
“Good.” Rage stiffened my shoulders. “So, you’re telling me within twenty-four hours of Celina kicking us out of the Candy Shop, she killed all our dirty FBI agents and then sent the rest of the FBI to our doors?”
Rafael got to my side. “Yes. That’s this morning’s summary.”
We left my suite and headed to the roof.
Giorgio always picked spots where there were several escapes. Most of us had escaped from jail and had not planned on ever going back—no matter what country we found ourselves locked up in.
It took us no time to get to the roof. The helicopter landed right as we opened the roof’s door. We climbed in as fast as we could. No one had anything to say. We didn’t run away much, but in this moment, we were fleeing.
My pride shattered under the reality of what was going on.
I gazed out the window. Louis had been correct. FBI vans circled below us. Uniformed men scattered the area. And where I didn’t see that, I spotted the blue and red flashing lights of American police cars.
While I hadn’t taken Celina’s threat from yesterday seriously, I would never underestimate her again.
Her voice rang in my head.
“. . .you have twenty-four hours to leave this city.”
“And if we don’t?” I’d asked.
“Then, I will push the buttons on my panel and let the cards fall where they may. This isn’t a threat. It’s advice from a wise woman that cares. Fly away, Jean-Pierre, fly far away.”
I turned away from the view below and was happy to see no police or FBI helicopters in the sky.
Thank God Giorgio is always prepared.
Still, there would be no sigh of relief until my men and I was completely free and in France.
Rafael sat next to me on the helicopter. “I know I’m not your favorite person right now, but we need to talk.”
I gritted my teeth. “Then talk.”
“I fucked up the Shalimar thing. My bad, but. . .”
I turned to him. “But?”
“But this shit with her aunt. . .we need to pause this whole. . .obsession you have.”
I looked ahead.
“Currently, Celina has more players on the board then we do. Either we change the board or take out her players.” Rafael sighed. “Neither one of those options we can do at this moment. Not with the FBI knowing our location and all of our agents dead.”
“I’ve got it.”
“So, you understand?”
Too angry to speak, I nodded as the airport greeted my eyes.
“We go back to Nice and regroup,” Rafael said. “Or rethink. . .this obsession.”
“I’m not rethinking Eden.”
“This was a fun hobby before, Jean-Pierre, it made us more powerful and richer. We’ve allied with stronger people, but now we’re getting the attention from the wrong kind.”
“We always had their attention.”
“How far do you really want to take this?” Rafael asked.
“As far as necessary.”
“But now war could be on the way with the Russians, and frankly, I’m not willing to go head-to-head with Kazimir over a woman.”
“But you’ll do it for me, because I would do it for you.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to.”
I sighed. “We’ll discuss this later. For now, let’s get home.”
There would be no other option but to call defeat and race back to France. If Celina wanted to really have us captured, it would’ve happened. She had to be smart enough to realize that we’d had a means to escape. It was one of the few hotels with helicopter-access in Belladonna.
No. This was a final message before she took the gloves off.
We flew near the airport and toward the private section where Rafael’s plane had been parked.
He shook his head next to me. “I’m really sorry about the whole Candy Shop thing. I didn’t know Shalimar would fall so easily for me. I mean. . .I was you know. . .liking her but—”